The realme C100X is the realme C100i with the 3 parts that were holding it back replaced: the battery grows from 6,500mAh to 8,000mAh, charging triples from 15W to 45W, and the 8MP rear camera becomes a 50MP one. That is a genuinely better phone, and on 24 October it sold for about Rs. 18,000 at 2 major retailers, roughly Rs. 2,000 above the C100i. The trouble is who else sells at Rs. 18,000. A 5G phone with nearly the same battery, twice the storage and a far longer update promise costs the same money, and that makes the C100X very hard to recommend.
The C100i, finished.
When we reviewed the realme C100i 4G, the frustrating thing was how close it came. A tough, splash-resistant body, a 120Hz screen, a headphone jack, and then a 15W charger and an 8MP camera that undid most of the good work. The C100X looks like realme read the same review.
It keeps the C100i's chip, its 6.8-inch 120Hz panel, its 166.5 x 78.2mm footprint, its IP64 and MIL-STD-810H ratings and its 5MP selfie camera. Then it changes the 3 rows that mattered. Same chassis, better organs.
8,000mAh, and a charger that can keep up.
The battery is the headline, and it has earned it. 8,000mAh in a phone 8.8mm thick and 219g is a big cell in a body you can still carry without noticing. It is larger than anything in our best battery life phones between Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 20,000, where the biggest pick holds 7,900mAh.
The charging finally matches it. 45W into 8,000mAh is 3 times the C100i's 15W. realme does not publish a charge time, so we will not invent one. There is also 6W reverse wired charging, enough to rescue a friend's dying phone with a cable.
It is built for the commute. IP64 means dust-tight and protected from splashes from any direction, the right rating for a monsoon walk to the bus stop rather than a swim. MIL-STD-810H adds a set of drop, vibration and temperature tests. Add a headphone jack and a microSD slot and you have a phone made for people who keep phones for a long time and do not baby them.
The camera is a real step. A 50MP main sensor at f/1.8 with autofocus replaces the C100i's 8MP. On paper that is a sensible daylight camera. There is no optical stabilisation, and realme lists only the one rear lens, so do not expect an ultra-wide or a zoom. We have not shot with it.
Rs. 18,000 for 4G, 64GB and a screen from the cheaper aisle.
The C100X launched at Rs. 14,999 for its only configuration, 4GB and 64GB, or Rs. 14,499 with the launch offer. Coverage in August reported it at Rs. 16,999, a rise we found no realme announcement for, and on 24 October both of the 2 largest retailers listed it at about Rs. 18,000. That is about 20% over launch for the same phone. The battery is worth paying for. The rest of the sheet was priced for Rs. 15,000.
No 5G. At Rs. 15,000 a 4G phone is a defensible choice for someone who lives on calls, WhatsApp and video. At Rs. 18,000 it is a choice you make in a band where 5G is ordinary.
64GB of eMMC storage. That is slow storage by today's standards and not much of it, and the card slot helps with photos but not with apps. With 4GB of RAM, this is a phone that will feel its age sooner than its battery does. And on this one row the newer phone steps back: realme's own page lists faster UFS 2.2 storage for the C100i.
The screen. 720 x 1570 across 6.8 inches is about 254 pixels per inch, and it is an LCD. The 120Hz refresh is smooth; the sharpness is not.
No update promise. realme publishes none for this phone. A phone with a battery built to last years deserves software that is promised to.
The phone at the same price that does almost everything better.
The POCO M8x 5G listed between Rs. 18,000 and Rs. 19,000 for 4GB and 128GB on 24 October, which puts its cheapest listing within a few hundred rupees of the C100X. For that it brings 5G, a 7,900mAh battery at the same 45W, twice the storage on faster UFS 2.2, an 8MP selfie camera against 5MP, a stronger 22.5W reverse wired charge and the same IP64 rating. Then it adds the line that settles it: 4 Android upgrades and 6 years of security patches, against no promise at all.
The C100X's wins over it are small. It is 13g lighter, 100mAh larger and its screen is a little smaller, if you count that as a win. Both screens are HD+ LCDs, so neither phone escapes that compromise.
And if 4G is genuinely all you need and the battery is less important, the C100i itself sat between Rs. 15,500 and Rs. 16,500 the same day. It is the slower-charging, smaller-battery version of this phone, and it costs about Rs. 2,000 less. We set it against its closest 4G rival in OPPO K14 Lite 4G vs realme C100i 4G. At the cheaper end of the same trade, our Moto G06 Power review looks at a 7,000mAh 4G phone that launched at Rs. 7,499.
- You want 8,000mAh, more than any pick in our Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 20,000 battery guide
- You live on calls and messages and have no use for 5G
- You want IP64, a drop rating, a headphone jack and a card slot together
- You find it well under Rs. 18,000
- You can buy the POCO M8x 5G for the same money
- You want 5G, more than 64GB or software updates promised in writing
- You care about screen sharpness
- Your budget is the Rs. 15,000 this phone launched at
Skip, unless the battery is the only spec you read. The realme C100X is what the C100i should have been: 8,000mAh, 45W and a 50MP camera in the same tough, jack-equipped body. At its Rs. 14,999 launch price it would have been an easy pick for a reader who wants a phone that refuses to die. At about Rs. 18,000 it shares a shelf with the POCO M8x 5G, which matches its battery to within 100mAh and adds 5G, double the storage and 6 years of security patches. Buy the POCO. Buy the C100X only if you find it cheaper, or if 8,000mAh is the whole brief.
The C100i, finished. The price finished it too.
We have not used this phone. This review is based on realme India's published specifications, India launch coverage and live retail listings checked on 24 October 2026.
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